Xena found herself being shaken awake. She didn't open her eyes, but she said, "You better have a good reason for waking me up, Gabrielle."

"I do. You won't believe the bargains you can find at market after the harvest celebration, and we're not that far a walk from Athens. You can get Winter Solstice presents for a song today. Why just one dinar will bring you more than you can carry."

"As tempting as that sounds," Xena said sarcastically, readjusting her cover, "I'll wait right here. You may want to treat yourself to a new quill while you're there though. I used your last one on a bounty hunter the night before last."

Gabrielle wasn't perturbed at the loss of her quill. "I was planning on getting a new one anyway. It was getting too hard to sharpen. Speaking of which, how did you jab it into him? It was very dull."

A small smile crossed her lips. "I know. That was the fun part. He won't be revisiting our camps anytime soon."

Gabrielle shook her head in an attempt to rid her mind of that painful mental image. "You do know they have weapons: daggers, swords, spears, weapons from other countries. You name it."

Gabrielle could tell that she had caught Xena's attention by the way she finally opened her eyes.

"They're half price," Gabrielle continued, going in for the kill. "They practically give them away."

"I suppose I could go with you just this one," she said, sitting up.

"It's best to get there right at daybreak before all the good bargains are gone. You won't regret this."

sss

The market was loud from the high volume of people and the heckling was worse than ever as stall owners competed to shout out their products and low prices. You couldn't hear yourself think.

Xena was ready to leave before they even started, but Gabrielle grabbed her arm. "I know it looks crowded—"

"That's because it is crowded," Xena interrupted. "A gnat couldn't squeeze in between those people."

"It's not as bad as it looks and it's worth the bargain prices. Trust me."

Xena didn't think it would be worth it, but she was willing to give it a try for Gabrielle's sake, so they plunged into the massive crowd.

They hadn't even gone a few steps before a large woman, who was shoving and pushing her way through the crowd to get to the stalls she wanted, pushed her way right through Xena and Gabrielle and not very gently.

Gabrielle grabbed the hand that was grasping the sword ready to pull it out. "You can't run someone through just because they bumped into you," Gabrielle reasoned.

"Watch me," Xena said darkly, lifting the sword halfway out of its sheath.

"Xena," she said in a tone that sounded like a cross between a teacher and sister, "you have to expect things like that in a crowd this size especially when they're in a hurry to get good deals. It's not right, but it happens. You just have to let these things go."

"I still think she deserves a good scare. Someone needs to teach her some manners," but she sighed and lowered her sword back in its sheath.

Xena waited as patiently as she could while Gabrielle oohed and awed over some shawls and talked the price down until she came away with a few.

"See what I mean, Xena? It's not everyday I can come away with this many shawls. I've got a present for my mother, Lila, and one for me. If that's not a bargain, I don't know what is."

Before Xena could respond, she caught sight of a brawl that had broken between 3 customers over some silks. They were tearing at each other's garments and hair to try and reach the stall first. They were letting some terse words fly at each other and they didn't mind plowing through the children and elderly to get there.

Xena inched her way over and put the competing customers out of their misery by knocking their heads together.

"Xena, you can't go knocking people around like this," Gabrielle chastised as they dragged the three unconscious forms to a relatively safe spot. "I know they were a little out of control, but this is a market on a busy day in a big city. It's not a battlefield."

"I don't know about that. I've seen war zones that were friendlier than this. It was only a matter of time before they hurt some innocent passerby. I swear you'd think they were beggars who hadn't eaten bread in days fighting over the last scrap of bread to be had. I've never seen anything so ridiculous in all my life."

"Just try and control yourself. I just want to see a couple more stalls and then I promise we'll leave."

Xena didn't say anything but gestured for her to start moving. Gabrielle smiled and made her way over to the quills and parchments.

Xena, still bored with this excursion, looked around at the activity. The crowd was collectively insane. There was no other way to describe it. They had the same mentality as a mob. They were likely decent folks normally but being with a group this size they threw their decency and brains out the window. They had one goal and one goal only in mind, shopping.

She watched as a stall owner, who was obviously late in the game, set up his stall. He had a nice selection of fish, which might have explained his lateness to the market if he had gotten in some last minute fishing to fill his stall. "Fresh fish!" he called. "Smoked fish to give as a Winter Solstice present!" The people didn't even need to hear the price. They came rushing over to see the newly set wares and in the rush of people, the stall owner was knocked to the ground, yet people still moved as if they couldn't see him or feel him under their feet. He was being trampled on the ground, and he didn't look as if he could take much more of it.

Even in the crowded space, she managed to flip over the mass of people and find a place to plant her feet. Xena did draw her blade this time, and Gabrielle didn't try to stop her as she pushed her way to her side.

In a loud, commanding voice that was able to rise above the noisy crowd, Xena said, "Unless you people want to trample your way against my blade, I suggest that you move back and give this man some room."

The crowd had no trouble backing away from the blade. Xena helped the man to his feet.

"You should be more careful," Gabrielle said sympathetically to him. "It's like being in a madhouse today."

The man was bruised and a little bewildered, but he was able to nod, shake the dust off his clothes, and move back behind his stall.

"I'm done with this buffoonery," Xena announced. "We're leaving before I end up killing one of these shoppers."

She didn't give Gabrielle a chance to protest as she grabbed her by the arm and began leading her away from the marketplace. She only stopped briefly in front of a stall with weapons. The man was shouting out the prices. Xena tossed a few dinars into the man's hands and grabbed a beautiful dagger with a slight curve to the blade and then continued on her way.

sss

Back at their camp, Gabrielle was bound up in her new shawls. Xena sat silently in front of her sharpening her new weapon.

"If you ever drag me to market on a day like that again or even wake me up to ask me if I want to go," Xena warned at last as she continued to sharpen the dagger, "I don't care if you can buy one get one free, I don't care if they give free gifts to the first 10 people to peruse their stall, you're going to find yourself tied up just like this. I don't like shopping anyway, but I especially hate it during the season of Winter Solstice."

"Have you heard of bargains like that at the market?" Gabrielle asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought of deals like Xena had mentioned.

"I don't intend on freeing you until you swear to me that you'll never ask me to come with you to market again. I don't even want to hear you talking about bargains or markets or shopping."

"No, no, I swear I will never take you anywhere near a stall on Market Day again although you have to admit I didn't lie about the good deals on weaponry."

Xena scoffed at the name as she moved to loosen the shawls. "Market Day? It should be called Black Friday, the darkest day of the year."

The End